The days are long, but the years are short.

Sleepeasy Solution, Summary

This blog got an outstanding leap in traffic today and, judging by most of the referrals, it looks like people are seeking information on the Sleepeasy Solution. Here’s the summary of my experience:

The Sleepeasy Solution book was a total godsend to my family. In the course of roughly 7 days of sleep training using this method, my 6 month old went from having an increasingly difficult time settling to sleep at any point between 7 and 9:30 pm, to going to sleep like clockwork at 7:30 on the dot. I now set her in her crib perfectly awake at 7:25 pm, she instantly turns on her side and begins sucking her thumb and within moments is asleep. If there is any crying at all, it lasts less than 3 minutes.

In addition, my daughter was waking up in the middle of the night between 1 and 3 times. On occasion, she would not go back to sleep. While we did the sleep training, the night wakings decreased to the point where perhaps once a night she would wake, but then settle herself back to sleep within a few minutes.

My daughter has also learned to stay asleep or quietly settled in her crib for 12 hours. She consistently wakes at 7:21 AM and is ready to get up, happy and cheerful.

Finally, Lulu eases into her naps excellently and, when I lay her down in her crib, I am confident that she will always go to sleep and actually get a NAP, rather than fuss!

Would I Do the Sleepeasy Solution Again?

Absolutely. In fact, I’m going to have to do another round of training with Lulu because of having gotten off track during a teething bout. If we have more children, I will definitely consider this method, and will most likely use it. I do believe that every child is unique and, therefore, it’s possible this method may not suit our next child. In general, though, I think this is a very straightforward, simple way to help a child learn how to put herself to sleep and I think it is suitable for the majority of babies. Odds are 98 to 2 that we’ll use this method again with our future children. We are thrilled with the results so far in Lulu.

Would I Recommend This to Friends and Family?

Emphatically yes!!! I have been telling anyone and everyone I know about this book. I feel so much that it has helped to bring a regularity and reliability to our family rhythm. I feel blessed that I happened to randomly pull this book off the shelf at Barnes & Noble when I went to get the “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Children” book. It literally has changed my life (& my husband and child’s).

What Makes This Such a Great Book?

It is VERY easy to read when you’re so tired your face is tingling.

The tone is very evenhanded. You can read this book, decide the method is not for you, and feel okay with that (as opposed to many of the other sleep training books out there that use a very condemning “my way or the highway” tone)

The tone is also very supportive. The authors understand that you’re tired, afraid of making a mistake, needing help and support with your decision.

It WORKS, well and quickly. My daughter’s life is MUCH better for having had this training.

The authors of the Sleepeasy Solution have considered almost every situation, ad hoc question and doubt that you can concieve of, all of which are addressed, so, if and when you start to doubt or wonder what to do, the book very clearly outlines your next move.

What Is The Method? How Does It Work?

I really believe that you need to read the book to understand what to do, when to do it and how to do it. I will not begin to try to outline the methods (except where I already have mentioned some aspects in my chronicles) at the risk that they be misinterpretted applied incorrectly. I will say that this is a modified version of a cry it out method. As the authors put it, this is the “least cry”method.

Also, the authors state that a baby should be at least four months and fourteen pounds and in good health before starting this sleep training. If your baby is lighter than this or younger than this, perhaps you can benefit from the “Happiest Baby On the Block” methods of soothing (we got the DVD and fast forwarded through it to the pertinent parts at 2 AM the second night Lulu was home!).

Get the book and read it.

Special Note for Exhausted Parents:

If you are a tired parent reading this at 2 AM, desperately looking for answers… hang in there. Tomorrow, during business hours, go to your local Barnes & Noble (I know they carry it), or call around to find one in stock at another bookstore, and get a copy. I PROMISE you that if you buy the book tomorrow and take 30 minutes to begin getting some of the concepts, you WILL be able to start tomorrow night and two days from now, you will see light!!! Just make it through one more night and then you can begin moving toward a solution and a good night’s rest. In the meantime, if you’re looking for an empathetic read, cruise through my chronicles. Good luck!!!

Sleep Training & Teething:

Now, the major caveat. Immediately after we concluded the sleep training, my daughter began teething. In the course of a week, her first two teeth emerged. This derailed the success of the sleep training particularly . In the past week or so, I have regressed to taking her from her crib when she wakes and cries. I believe this was a necessary step in comforting her while she was in teething pain. This was also discussed in the Sleepeasy Solution book. The teething (round one) has passed, but we have a trip scheduled… There’s just not enough time to restore the great schedule we were on. When we return from our trip, we will re-start the sleep training, and I’ll probably write about it some more here!

Do I Have an Affiliation With the Book or Authors?

Nope. I’m just a new mom who, herself, has trouble sleeping. So I write a lot. And worry. And exalt in the successes and belabour the “failures” of my parenting along the way.

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9 Responses

I know the authors, Jill and Jen – they’re great and have really helped me with both my kids!

They have a new DVD that my friend Brenda just used: The SleepEasy Solution DVD & Sleep Manual. The DVD is great because you can actually see real parents as they are sleep training, and it takes only 45 minutes to watch and understand.

My husband and I are on day 2 of using the techniques in the Sleepeasy Solution. So far, our daughter (almost 5 months old, 15.5 lbs) does cry a lot – especially at naptime. This is to be expected according to the authors. It is really hard to watch her cry but you HAVE to remember that consistency is key – once you start, you owe it to your baby to see it through. Don’t make him/her cry for nothing.
Also, it can take upwards of a week to get the baby to nap on his/her own, so hang in there. I have friends who swear by this method, which is a kinder, gentler method than the old school cry it out. So far, their kids claim that they don’t remember a thing, and that they’re not traumatized. :)

Carla,
Your situation is exactly the same with ours. Andrew had trouble to sleep during the night. He was waking up several times during the night wanting to play to sing, etc. We didn’t know what to do until he was 9 months old (can you believe we survived 9 months?) when our pediatrician told us to try the CIO method with going in at some specific time interval. The first night he cried almost 2 hours with first 30-40 minutes the worst. I thought I will die. Consistency is the secret. Every time when I was checking him he was crying harder and harder. My wife could not resist and at some point she wanted to pick him up…. :-) As I said: Consistency is the secret. First day he woke up at 12:55 AM (as usually). Second day he woke up at 2AM and he cried for about 1.45 hours. Third day he woke up at 3AM and he cried for about 1.30 hours. Forth day he woke up at 4AM and cried for about 1 hour. Fifth day he woke up at 4.30AM and cried for about 45 min. Of course we checked him at some point. We could sleep 1 extra hour a night with each day of training. It was hard, very hard but I was thinking about the 9 months of no more than 3-4 hours of sleep during the night, both mother and father working during the day. The result: now he is more independent, he doesn’t rely on us to give him all he wants. He can do it by himself. He seems more organized. At some point he still wakes up during the night but instead of crying we hear some songs -). After a few minutes he is back on sleep. It seem this helped him, too. We will have to try now with day naps. The conclusion: thi saved our marriage and helped him to have some good sleep time for development. I was finding myself while I read your blog. I couldn’t believe it!

Thanks for your great experience, Dan. It is SOOO hard in the beginning, and sounds like your son had a tough time (as did the two of you!). You make two excellent points that are critical to hold onto in the thick of it —

1. CONSISTENCY – the worst thing you can do is make your poor infant go through all this crying and then make it worse by sweeping in and picking them up. They need to get to the breakthrough point, otherwise it’s for nothing.

2. You are doing what’s best for everyone in the family – the baby will finally get decent sleep, as will the parents (and siblings, house pets, critters in attics, etc)

Thank you for your detailed reporting of your experience. My husband is going to buy the Sleepeasy Solution today and we will begin training tomorrow (if, like you, I can do a crash-reading/skimming of the book tonight)

Our son is 5 1/2 months old and sleeps through the night… but, HATES to go to sleep without nursing… wish us luck. I will blog about our experience on our site.

I’m nervous even imagining a world where my son will go to sleep on his own.

I just wanted to thank you for this. I have checked out about 25 books on sleep for my child from the library because it got to the point to where we couldn’t afford to keep purchasing books that didn’t work. I, too, pulled the Sleepeasy Solution off the shelf while looking for the Healthy Sleep, Happy Child. I read that first, and found myself throwing it across the room when I got to the end. While the cover promises a step-by-step guide, I felt left in the dark and betrayed over the time wasted reading it. After the fourth night of not sleeping in a row, I picked up the Sleepeasy Solution from my never-ending pile of library books, and began to read. The thing is, my child is four and a half months old – the time the authors said he would be most successful. I am planning on starting this program tonight – God help me – my husband works until 11pm. So, I am kind of on my own for awhile, but I just have the most faith that this will work – mainly because the authors really do walk you step by step! I have no questions, no worrys except for the crying part. I have researched “no cry” solutions, only to find they don’t really work, at least not for my child. Thank you for your encouragement – I pray this works!

We just bought the book and so far so good, but only on day 2. Naps are another story – baby E still crying a lot. Yesterday she screamed so much during her naps that a) she didn’t get much sleep during day and b) her little voice is hoarse : ( Did any of you have this problem too?